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1. The International Centre for Prison Studies estimates that the U.S. prison population is over 2.2 million. China is the only other country with more than a million.
2. If America's prison population was a city, it would be the size of Houston.
3. India has about 940 million more citizens than the U.S. and yet we have 1.8 million more people in jail.
4. There is only 1 country in the world where people serve life sentences for crimes they committed before they turned 18 years old.
6. Within U.S. state prisons, there are over 166,000 people in jail for murder. In 2008, more than 12,000 of these homicides were firearm-related. Japan had:
7. Though the U.S is only 5% of the world’s population, it has 25% of the world’s prison population.
8. There are more people awaiting trial in local jails (428,312) than the population of Miami. (417,650)
9. From 1980 to 2012, the U.S. federal prison population increased by 790%.
10. There are more African-American men imprisoned, on probation, or parole than were enslaved in 1850.
11. The U.S has over 200,000 women in jail. Only 8 countries in the world have entire prison populations over 200,000.
12. The privatization of prisons may incentivize increasing inmate populations. Some occupancy guarantee clauses in private prison contracts require 100% occupancy.
13. The UN concluded that solitary confinement for more than 15 days is torture. Some U.S. inmates have been in solitary for years. & in 2012, the U.S. had more inmates in solitary than the entire prison populations of France, Egypt, Japan......
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